Fragile
by LittleLonnie
Summary: Set sometimes after 6x15. Baltazar needs the Winchester's help to get some information about Raphael. So it's time for some spirit walking again, but when they get back not everything is fine and dandy with Sam.


**Title: **Fragile

**Author:** LittleLonnie

**Genre:** Hurt/comfort

**Prompt by: **rokhal (LJ)

**Characters:** Sam, Dean, Bobby, Castiel

**Summary:** Set sometimes after 6x15. Balthazar needs the Winchester's help to get some information about Raphael. So it's time for some spirit walking again, but when they get back not everything is fine and dandy with Sam.

**Disclaimer:** I do sadly not own "Supernatural" or any characters.

* * *

"I don't even have words for how sick I am of being angels and demons' bitch," Dean complained as he and his little brother walked down a straight, but slim wooden road.

"Come on, Dean. It's Cas we're talking about," Sam tried to calm his brother down,

"He might piss you off once in a while, but do you really think he'd let us do this if he didn't think we could do it?"

"He didn't help us when we needed him in that bizarre alternate reality! He's more busy with that heaven civil war and fine, I don't care, but don't drag us into their shit again! We've done enough! You've done enough for those dicks!" Dean was almost shouting in anger now and the only reason Sam wasn't shushing him was that he knew nobody would hear them anyway.

"I agree, Dean, but thanks to Balthazar's little sneaky trick we don't have much choice. Can we just find this spirit and be done with it?" Sam looked Dean straight in the eye, not even aware that his natural puppy eyes were in full swing.

"Fine," Dean complained roughly, not wanting to show that those bloody puppy eyes still was his weak spot. They kept walking until they got out of the forest and found a lone farm.

"So this guy we're looking for. It's Raphael's old meat suit?" Dean asked as they walked across the seemingly empty farm towards the main house.

"More like the original owner of the meat suit," Sam explained.

"Oh come on you know what I mean," Dean complained and Sam had to hid a tiny smirk.

"Well yeah. Apparently this was his childhood home and we're supposed to ask him what he knows about Raphael's plans. Before the reaper comes to get him," Sam told as he stopped on the porch of the house, stretching a hand to knock on the door.

"Man, we're spirits," Dean finally smiled before walking straight through the door. Sam followed closely.

"I can't imagine why they go after Raphael's old vessel though. How much would he know now anyway?" Sam asked Dean as they reach the kitchen of the house.

"Nothing," another voice spoke up behind them, making the brothers turn around at the same time,

"So you're here to ask me out about Raphael? Why wont you leave me alone? I'm finally going to find peace."

There he was. Donnie Finnerman. Raphael's old vessel that Dean had first seen at a no name hospital, a drooling mess after the archangel had been in him.

"Believe me, ninja turtle. We don't even want to be here, but you know how those angels work," Dean explained and slowly walked closer to the soul of the young man.

"So you're not one of them?" Donnie asked and the brothers nodded,

"Well that's a relief, but doesn't change that I don't know anything."

"So they're grasping for anything that will help them now," Sam concluded.

"Why would I want to help them anyway? Raphael left me a drooling mess and I lived inside my own body for so long. Before I got here," Donnie asked.

"We're not helping Raphael. There's this other douche bag that tries to stop him," Dean explained, but quickly continued when Donnie was about to object,

"We don't like him either. We didn't lie to you. But he is more or less on our side."

Donnie sighed and ran a hand over his face,

"The last thing I remember was something about weapons. He wanted to collect some sort of weapons so Michael could finally kill Lucifer."

Dean met Sam's eyes before looking at Donnie again,

"Yeah it isn't really newsflash now no," Dean explained.

Donnie shrugged before looking out the window,

"That's all I know. Sorry that I couldn't help. I hope you figure this out, but I'd like to be alone now. The reaper should be here soon."

They said their goodbyes before leaving the house again, this time Dean decided to moonwalk through the door.

"Dude," Sam bitchfaced and went to nudge his brother in the side, his elbow went right through him instead.

"Hm? I can't hear you," Dean grinned and stopped moon walking before sticking his fingers through Sam's ears to show his point. Sam of course jumped away from Dean's hands.

"Dude stop it. That's just weird," Sam complained and started walking away from the farm.

"Okay, okay sorry!" Dean yelled, ran after him and then through him before stopping in front of his brother with a cheeky grin on his face,

"What come on, Sam. We're allowed to have a little fun."

Sam sighed, but a slight smile appeared on his face. He lifted his hand and punched through Dean's face.

"See? Fun," Dean said while having Sam's fist through his head. Sam pulled it back and grimaced.

"Still creepy," Sam said and was about to start walking again when Balthazar was suddenly in front of them.

"Time to go," the angel smiled before everything turned black.

* * *

"He doesn't know anything you don't already know," Dean explained to Balthazar,

"Why would you think that anyway? Considering how you guys treat your vessels it's a wonder that boy lasted so long."

"Would you rather have Raphael succeed in getting the weapons?" Balthazar asked, smiling when none of the brothers answered,

"Thought so. That's why it was necessary to make sure if Raphael's old vessel knew anything useful or not."

Balthazar had returned the brothers to the Impala where it was parked on the side of an empty road. The sun was setting, but none of the brothers was in the mood to enjoy the colorful sky.

"See you 'round," Balthazar winked and vanished with the sound of wings.

"Not even a thank you," Dean sighed and sat down on the hood of the Impala. He looked over his shoulder when Sam didn't respond.

"Sam?" Dean asked, frowning when he saw his brother leaning heavily against the passenger's seat door. Before Dean had time to react Sam suddenly slid down, long legs giving out.

"Sam!" Dean was on his feet in seconds and caught Sam before his upper body could hit the gravel, holding his brother's upper body against the car,

"Sammy?" Dean tilted Sam's head back to see his face, long dark hair covering the closed eyes.

"What the hell?" Dean shifted so he could get a better grip on Sam's completely limp and quite heavy head. He checked for a pulse and found it beating at normal pace. It only took one pat on the cheek before Sam moaned and his eyes finally blinked.

"What the..." Sam frowned, taking in his brother's crouched position in front of him.

"Don't look at me. You just fainted like a girl," Dean explained with a pity excused of a cheeky grin on his face. Sam knew instantly what his brother looked so worried about.

"Oh," Sam blinked, running a hand through his hair,

"Why?"

Dean looked just as bewildered as he himself did,

"Beats me. But you're okay now?"

When Sam nodded Dean helped him up though still keeping an eye on him.

"Let's get back to the motel," Dean muttered and helped Sam into the car.

* * *

**14 hours later**

"Was it really necessary to come here before the stores even open?" Dean asked before a massive yawn took over. Sam ran a hand over his face,

"You're the one who wanted to get going early, Dean. I just thought we could need some food. And see - it opens now," Sam said and got out of the car. Together the two brothers headed for the newly opened store. There were of course very few people at the store this early. Just two working and one other patron in the store.

"Hey, I'm going to take a dump," Dean said to Sam and pointed towards the toilets. Sam wrinkled his nose, but nodded.

Dean wasn't gone for more then a minute or two, but by the time he got out again he could hear raised voices tinted with worry throughout the store. He frowned and walked through the isles towards the source of the commotion. He stopped up when he saw two men, one young and one old bending over his brother on the floor. The older man was patting Sam's cheeks while the younger one looked a little bewildered.

"Sam!" Dean hurried over to his brother and the older man automatically moved away.

"You know him?" the man asked.

"He's my brother," Dean explained while grabbing the collar of Sam's jacket and shook the big body. The oldest Winchester tried desperately not to flashback to the scene when Sam last took a visit to Hell's cage.

"What happened?" Dean asked, heart beating even wilder when Sam wouldn't wake up. He took note of the nasty bruise forming on Sam's jawline.

"He just collapsed all of a sudden. He hit one of the shelves on the way down. I checked his pulse and I think he just passed out," the younger man spoke up now,

"Should I call the ambulance?"

Before Dean could answer him 'no', Sam groaned and grimaced.

"Hey you okay?" the old man beat Dean to it and Dean threw him a quick, unnoticed bitch face.

"Uh..." Sam's eyes turned huge when he realized he was lying on his back, two strangers and Dean looking down at him.

"Did I..."

"Yeah," if Dean looked worried last night it was nothing compared to what he looked like now. Sam clumsily got his arms under him and raised himself up until he was resting on his elbows.

"Ouch my jaw," Sam winced and Dean carefully took hold of his brother's chin and turned his head a little to the side so he could inspect the bruise. Sam bit down on his bottom lip when he felt Dean's thumb run over the bruised jawline, but kept quiet.

"It's bleeding, but the bone's not broken," Dean explained.

"Maybe it would be best to call for ambulance," the old man said,

"It's not everyday young healthy men just pass out."

"No, no. I'm fine," Sam blushed furiously and held out his arm towards Dean, knowing his brother would take the hint and help him up.

"He's sure," Dean spoke for his brother as Sam struggled to get his long, coltish legs under him,

"Thank you."

Dean pushed Sam in front of him as they walked down the isles towards the exit, without any groceries. He kept a hand against the small of Sam's back the whole way until they got to the Impala.

"Dude what the hell is this? Are you sure you don't remember anything else?" Dean asked as he fished out some sterile gauze pad from the first aid kit they had in the trunk.

"Dean I promise. I would tell you if I did," Sam said, begging with his eyes for Dean to believe him.

"Okay, I believe you, but I don't like this," Dean closed the trunk and returned to Sam, opened the door to the passenger's seat and pushed Sam down onto it.

"You're not the one passing out in public," Sam blushed again, keeping an eye on Dean's hand,

"No way. That's gonna sting like hell."

"Don't be a baby. We have to clean out the wound, genius," Dean grabbed Sam's chin again not too gently, but was careful when he pressed the gauze pad against the wound. Sam hissed and automatically tried to pull away, but Dean just tightened his hold.

"Two times in short time, dude. I know you get knocked out hell of a lot, but this is crazy even for you," Dean grumbled while he patted the gauze against the wound. Sam could see the moment an idea struck down in his big brother's head.

"Maybe that's what this is? Maybe all those knocks to your noggin' is finally catching up with you," Dean suggested and patted Sam friendly on the shoulder once when he was done.

"Oh come on, what about you? You had your share of knocks to the head yourself," Sam reminded him.

"Yeah, but not as much as you," Dean raised his voice as he walked away from the car to throw away the gauze before returning to the drivers seat. Sam pulled his legs in and closed his own door.

"You sure you feel okay?" Dean asked seriously before starting the car, looking at his little brother which Sam sometimes felt was like a x-ray vision.

"I'm fine, Dean," Sam smiled to reassure his brother. It was the truth, but it did kind of freak him out.

"Go on, Dean," Sam encouraged his brother to drive when Dean just kept looking at him. Reluctantly Dean started the car and they drove off to Bobby's.

* * *

"Yo Bobby. No welcome back party?" Dean yelled as he got out of the car just as Sam got out too.

"Nice to see you two idjits again after smashing my window like that," Bobby came out of his house and leaned against a pole on the porch.

"Hey we gave you money to fix it and by the look of it you have," Dean reminded their old friend. He headed for the trunk when he noticed Sam palming his forehead and instantly hurried over to him.

"Sam?" Dean locked an arm around Sam's slim waist while trying to catch Sam's eyes from under all the hair and the hand clutching his head.

"What's going on?" Bobby was beside them the second he saw Dean locking his arm around his brother.

"I dunno. Sam's been passing out a few times for no reason," Dean looked up at Bobby before turning his focus to Sam again.

"Son?" Bobby grabbed hold of Sam's chin, mindful of the wound he noticed on the young hunter's jaw. Sam didn't respond though and suddenly his legs started giving.

"Damnit," Dean's eyes seemed close to pop out when he suddenly had his brother's whole weight in his arms.

"A little help here?" Dean grumbled, arms straining around his brother as Bobby pulled one of Sam's around his shoulders.

"Shouldn't you lay him down?" Bobby wondered while checking Sam's pulse with his free hand.

"No. He usually wakes up quickly. Hopefully," Dean tried to straightened a little, but his brother was truly a human Sasquatch. He silently thanked God that Sam wasn't nearly as huge as he had been when Dean had returned from Hell.

"Hey Sammy, come on now. Wakie, wakie," Dean felt the big body slip a little and desperately he grabbed hold of Sam's belt. Bobby lifted one eyelid at the time, seeing nothing wrong with the pupils. Dean felt the moment Sam was coming awake, a shudder running through his brother's body.

"Yes that's it!" Dean cheered as Sam immediately tried to get his wobbly feet under him. Sam then lifted his head a little, but only ended up letting it fall down so his chin rested over Dean's shoulder.

"It's okay, Sammy," Dean reassured, his arms screaming in relief when Sam finally got one of his legs to cooperate.

"Try to get hold of Cas," Dean told Bobby when he trusted he could handle Sam alone now. Bobby nodded and ran off a few meters so he could scream for Castiel without startling Sam.

"Dude. This is looking more and more like the wall is crumbling," Dean said to Sam as his brother lifted his head again. Despite the unusual intimacy, Dean let his forehead rest against the side of Sam's face.

"Nuh," Sam shook his head and put one of his arms around Dean's shoulders so they could get into Bobby's house.

"Sam. Dean," Dean stopped when they got to Bobby's porch and heard Castiel's voice behind him.

"Cas, finally. You gotta check Sam out," Dean said without turning around and brought his brother into the house. By the time they reached the kitchen Sam was aware enough to walk himself and sat down at the table, sighing annoyed. Dean started moving around Bobby's kitchen, fixing some sandwich to his brother. Bobby entered the kitchen a little later, small smile on his face when he saw the older brother fussing around to make his little brother some food.

"What's wrong with him? What's wrong with you?" Cas asked Dean first before deciding that Sam could perhaps answer it himself. He placed his hand on the side of Sam's head and tilted it side to side while staring at the youngest Winchester, making Sam very uncomfortable.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired," Sam tried to get his head away from the angel's grabby hands, but without much luck.

"Yeah so tired he keeps passing out," Dean added as he handed Sam sandwiches. Sam gave him a thankful smile before taking a bite when Cas finally stopped probing.

"I'm afraid it has something to do with the wall," Dean said sullenly,

"But I assume there's only one way to be sure of that?"

"There is no reason good enough for me to cause Sam that pain again. He says he doesn't remember anything for now," Cas said and crossed his arms and kept silent for a few seconds,

"I don't want to feel that again either," Cas looked Dean straight in the eyes.

"Then what?" Dean argued. It wasn't like he wanted Sam to feel that pain, especially now that it was really Sammy and not Robo Sam or unconscious Sam that didn't feel pain anyway.

"Maybe it's a side effect after the spirit walking," Bobby spoke up, leaning against the wall.

"That is a possibility," Cas said and went back to probing Sam's face,

"Give it a few days."

Cas awkwardly patted Sam once on the shoulder before vanishing in a blink of an eye.

"Well that was informative," Dean growled,

"So if this is simply because of the spirit walking, why don't I go around fainting too?"

Sam blushed a little again, really wishing his brother would stop bringing the fainting up,

"Maybe because you're badass," Sam looked up at his brother again and snorted. Dean just glared at him before shrugging.

"That's a good theory. I like that, Sammy," Dean started walking restlessly around the kitchen again, talking to both his brother and Bobby.

"I bet you do," Sam quietly before taking a swig of a beer Dean had given him too.

"It must be something with your mind, Sam. It has to. Even if it hasn't resulted in flashbacks yet that wall is still fragile. Your whole mind is fragile," Dean opened his own beer and sat down opposite Sam, Bobby plopping down beside him.

"I think he might be right," Bobby spoke,

"You should stay down and rest as much as possible until things gets better. We can't risk anything."

Dean nodded in agreement to that and Sam knew he had no say in this. Not that he couldn't disagree. He wasn't really tempted to keep fainting all over the place. He did have some dignity left.

* * *

Although some days rest was what it took to stop the fainting, getting there was terrible. Sam fainted two more times before things started to get better, but both those times he was out for longer. Cas had returned one time Dean had called him with Sam unconscious in his arms. The angel had checked the wall while Sam was out and the youngest Winchester hadn't even flinched. Cas, for a change had decided to stay positive for Dean's sake, but this time Dean had problems seeing the full positivity in it. The wall was as fragile as always, but only tiny bits of pieces had crumbled, nothing big.

"But a little is still something," Dean glared at Sam in the passengers seat of the Impala.

"I hear you Dean, but I'm still here. We're still together so try to look at it the positive way," Sam reminded his big brother.

"Yeah, yeah," Dean grumbled and turned up music playing.

* * *

**THE END**

Let me know what you think!


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